$6 million for Sound cleanup

from article by Les Blumenthal, The News Tribune, Tacoma, WA, May 5th, 2006 01:00 AM

A major spending bill approved by a House committee Thursday would boost funding for a Puget Sound cleanup project to $6 million.

The Interior appropriations bill also provides money for Mount Rainier National Park, salmon restoration and accelerated logging on federal lands.

The Environmental Protection Agency would receive the $6 million in Puget Sound cleanup funds in the next fiscal year, a $4 million increase over current levels.

Other funding in the bill includes:

$20 million to remove two dams on the Elwha River downstream from Olympic National Park that have blocked salmon runs.

$2.5 million for a 3-year- old program that requires hatchery salmon stocks to be marked so they can be differentiated from endangered and threatened wild stocks.

$100,000 for the U.S. Geological Survey to study low oxygen levels in Hood Canal that have resulted in fish kills.

$1.5 million for grants to local organizations working to rebuild salmon runs.

$1.4 million to restore salmon habitat on private lands.

$32 million for the Forest Service to accelerate logging on federal lands.

Proposed bill requires further action, and possible modification, by House and Senate before final.

… more, from full article